Politics and the Fairness Doctrine

Journalism Professor Robert Zelnick, an attorney and former long-time ABC News correspondent, in a Boston Globe commentary cautions about Congressional efforts to revive FCC’s Fairness Doctrine.

“The effort by Democrats in both Houses to resurrect broadcasting’s ‘Fairness Doctrine’ after a 22-year hiatus suggests the fragility of constitutional values once the lure of partisan advantage comes into play. And the relative silence of the mainstream media on the issue implies that many are willing to tolerate some slippage in First Amendment guarantees as the price for taking right-wing talk-radio gladiators down a peg.”